Department for Transport

High Speed Two

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 19 September (HL1473), who are the members of HS2 Ltd.’s Conflict of Interest Panel; which cases of potential conflict of interest they have considered in the last year; what was their decision in each case; and whether they intend to publish this information every six months in the future.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: It is not possible to provide the names of HS2 Ltd’s Conflict of Interest Panel Members, nor details of specific cases which have been heard as we do not consider doing so would be consistent with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). Unfair disclosure of personal data is a breach of the First Data Protection Principles under the DPA.

Luton Airport: Railways

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the planned expansion of Luton Airport from 10 million to 18 million passengers a year, they intend to include in the specification for the new Midland Main Line longer-distance passenger service a requirement that four trains per hour per direction should call at Luton Parkway in order to increase the percentage of air passengers arriving by rail.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The next East Midlands franchise is due to start in July 2018 and we are currently undertaking a process of information gathering to develop the high-level view of the franchise specification. We are due to begin a public consultation later this year to inform the specification. Until the views submitted through the public consultation are understood and further analysis is conducted on the options for the franchise, a firm decision cannot be taken at this stage. I would encourage the noble Lord to make his views known through the formal public consultation process when it opens.

Road Works

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the impact of highway works and their management by utilities and local authorities on traffic congestion and delays to road traffic, they have any plans to review the operation of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 or the Traffic Management Act 2004.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government wants to deliver better journeys for drivers. Roadworks are essential, but that doesn’t mean they should be in place any longer than is absolutely necessary. We continue to keep the implementation and operation of the relevant legislation and statutory guidance under constant review, and are taking opportunities to streamline, simplify and de-regulate what has become a complex legislative framework where possible. In addition, we are modernising and updating secondary legislation and statutory guidance where this is necessary and where it will lead to improvements in the way that road and street works are managed. Recent examples include consultations earlier this year on updated statutory guidance relating to inspections and modernised regulations relating to the qualifications regime. In 2015, we updated regulations and guidance on permit schemes that are now in place in over 55% of local authority areas and which are resulting in more effective management of street works and reductions in the duration of works.

Road Traffic Control

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to tackle traffic congestion.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government has an ambitious strategy for tackling congestion in our cities and towns and improving performance on our roads. This strategy includes providing significant investment in both our strategic and local road networks, as well as encouraging more sustainable transport including buses, light rail and walking and cycling. We are providing £15.2 billion between 2015 and 2021 to invest in our strategic road network. This is the biggest upgrade to our motorways and ‘A’ roads for a generation, and it is adding capacity and tackling congestion. The Road Investment Strategy is providing a transformational level of investment in the strategic road network (SRN), with over 400 extra lane miles of Smart Motorways, including a ‘smart spine’ linking London, Birmingham and the North West and schemes to improve critical freight routes, such as the £1.5 billion A14 scheme in Cambridgeshire and the M6 in Cheshire. The drive to improve safety and reduce congestion underpins the vast majority of our schemes. Several schemes, however, are specifically focused on alleviating these problems – the two of which often go hand in hand. On the M25, upgrades to Junction 10 will create a free-flowing interchange with the A3, improving an area which has a high casualty rate. In the North, planning work will start for upgrades to two of the region’s most important interchanges: the M62/M1 Lofthouse interchange and the M60/M62/M66 Simister Island junction. On local roads we have the £12 billion Local Growth Fund to 2021 which has enabled local authorities through the Local Enterprise Partnerships to identify and secure funding for projects to enable among other things, local road improvements and sustainable local transport projects. This is on top of over £6 billion through to 2021 to councils in England to help maintain their local roads and repair potholes. This investment is set against the backdrop of a regulatory framework that is intended to provide better conditions for all road users through coordination and proactive management of the road network. The Traffic Management Act 2004 specifically places a network management duty on each local traffic authority in England to manage its road network to secure the expeditious movement of traffic on its own network and to facilitate the same on the network of other authorities. This can be achieved through traditional traffic management methods including effective enforcement of parking and management of street works but increasingly also through the deployment of technology. To support this the Department for Transport is currently inviting local authorities to bid for a share of £2m to fund demonstrator projects to test these new technologies.

Bus Services

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the economic impact on the bus industry of increased traffic congestion, in particular in respect of (1) bus speeds, (2) the deployment of additional vehicles to maintain service intervals, and (3) the attractiveness of the bus as a means of travel; and whether they have discussed this subject with the bus industry and local highway authorities.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Managing traffic congestion on the local road network, over which most buses operate, is the responsibility of local highway authorities. The Government recognises that traffic congestion impacts on the punctuality and reliability of bus services and continues to work collaboratively with the bus industry, local authorities and other stakeholders to promote effective strategies to tackle this issue, such as operator/authority partnership working and the introduction of bus priority measures. The average traffic speed on locally managed ‘A’ roads in England is estimated to have decreased by 3.3% since 2014, when the Department started measuring speeds over the full 24 hours of the day. Bus punctuality data is collected and managed by local authorities, and published by the Department for Transport in online statistical tables.The Department publishes two measures of bus punctuality for frequent and non-frequent bus services. A frequent service is one that has six or more buses per hour. For frequent services, statistics by local authority are available in table BUS0903. This measure represents the excess waiting time arising from irregular gaps between services. The proportion of non-frequent bus services in England running on-time is published in table BUS0902. Both tables are attached to this response. The latest statistics show that in 2014/15, 83% of non-frequent services ran on-time compared with 80% in 2009/10. ‘On-time’ is defined as one between 1 minute early and 5 minutes 59 seconds late. Ministers and officials have discussed the issue of congestion with Greener Journeys and representatives of the bus industry and local authorities, including at an event in the House of Commons on 14 September.



Bus Statistics - Average excess waiting time
(Excel SpreadSheet, 112 KB)




Bus Statistics - Running on time
(Excel SpreadSheet, 54.08 KB)

Bus Services

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the bus industry to meet the challenges arising from the need to deal with levels of air pollution in cities.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government has introduced several measures to encourage the uptake of environmentally friendly buses. The Low Emission Bus Scheme (LEBS), announced last year, will provide over £30m to help buy several hundred low emission buses. The winners of LEBS was announced on 25 July, building on the success of the Green Bus Fund, which ran to 2014. Under the Green Bus Fund, £89million of Government funding helped to purchase over 1,200 green buses. The Government is also encouraging the uptake of greener vehicles through the Bus Service Operators Grant low carbon emission bus incentive. The Bus Services Bill, which was introduced into the House of Lords on 19th May, will provide local transport authorities with new powers to specify the emission standards to be met by local bus services – including through franchising and, with sufficient support from bus operators, under enhanced partnership arrangements. The Government has also invested over £26million since 2011 under the Clean Bus and Clean Vehicle Technology Funds for local authorities in pollution hotspots across England to retrofit 1000’s of buses, and other vehicles, with pollution reducing technology. This includes converting some buses to either natural gas or to electric propulsion.

Railways: Competition

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 20 September (HL1612), why their estimates of the financial impact of the Office of Road and Rail’s decision on the East Coast Main Line and other associated franchises are considered "commercially sensitive" information when they will need to be disclosed to any bidders for future franchises.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The information is considered commercially sensitive because of the impact it could have on a listed company if released at this time. This information would only be disclosed to franchise bidders on a confidential basis at the time a franchise is re-let. However, under the normal process we would expect bidders to make their own revenue forecasts.

Network Rail: Industrial Health and Safety

Lord Moonie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions over each of the last five years Network Rail has been fined for breaches of health and safety legislation; and what safeguards are in place to ensure that fines are not passed on to the taxpayer or passengers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Network Rail has been fined fifteen times over the last five years for breaches of health and safety legislation, however the incidents that these fines correspond with took place over the last thirteen years (2003-2016). All fines must be paid out of existing budgets and no additional funding will be made available by government and no extra can be raised from track access charges.

Network Rail: Industrial Health and Safety

Lord Moonie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there is any link between the salaries of senior managers in Network Rail and health and safety performance.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Network Rail’s business performance is measured in every four-week period through a scorecard that includes a series of safety measures. Performance against the metrics in the scorecard is linked to the bonuses of senior managers. In terms of the company’s Executive Directors, each year Network Rail’s Remuneration Committee assesses performance for the year and decides whether the scorecard out-turn should be adjusted on safety grounds. Network Rail’s Management Incentive Plan states that in the event of a serious safety incident during the year, which impacts passengers, the workforce or the public, for which Network Rail was responsible, no incentive would normally be payable to any executive director for that year.

Delivery Services: Unmanned Air Vehicles

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had, or agreements they have made, with Amazon and other retailers about the use of drones for deliveries.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Civil Aviation Authority have assessed an operational safety case submitted by Amazon and granted permission for the current trials to be undertaken. Discussions have taken place between Government and Amazon around their current trials and future plans for the UK. A non-disclosure agreement has been put in place with Amazon that sets out how confidential information relating to their UK drone delivery trials should be handled. No discussions have been had or agreements put in place with any other retailers about the use of drones for deliveries.

Home Office

Migrant Camps: Dunkirk

Baroness Hamwee: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are aware of the presence of British citizens, particularly British children, in the La Linière refugee camp outside Dunkirk.

Baroness Hamwee: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps, if any, they are taking to provide assistance to British citizens, particularly British children, in La Linière refugee camp outside Dunkirk.

Baroness Hamwee: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have, if any, to provide assistance to British citizens, particularly British children, in La Linière refugee camp outside Dunkirk.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Government is not aware of any British citizens, including children, residing in the La Linière migrant camp.

Asylum: Children

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims have been made by young asylum seekers in Calais in the past 12 months; of those, how many have been accepted; and how many applicants have been allowed to proceed to the UK.

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims made by young asylum seekers in Calais in the past 12 months were refused, and on what grounds.

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims made by young asylum seekers in Calais in the past 12 months are still being processed; and how long is the average process time for such cases.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The number of asylum claims made in France over any given period, and their outcome, is a matter for the French authorities.The Dublin Regulation is the mechanism for determining responsibility for considering an asylum claim. If accepted for transfer to the UK, the asylum claim is considered in the UK after the individual has been transferred.The Home Office has accepted responsibility to consider the asylum claims of over 80 unaccompanied minors from France under Dublin since the start of the year and many more are in train.Dublin transfer requests involving children are now generally processed within 10 days by a dedicated team in the Home Office. Children can then be transferred within weeks and are now arriving in the UK on an almost weekly basis. A senior Home Office official has been seconded to the French Interior Ministry to help speed up the process of identifying children who may qualify for transfer to the UK.

Slavery: Court Orders

Lord Smith of Hindhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders, and (2) Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders, have been made in the last 12 months.

Lord Smith of Hindhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders, and (2) Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders, have been made in the last 12 months relating to persons under 18 years old.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: 16 Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders (STPOs) have been made on sentencing in the Crown Court under section 14 of the Modern Slavery Act.Three Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders (STRO) have been made on application to the Magistrates’ Court, of which three have been made.No persons under 18 years old have been given an STPO or an STRO.This data has been run specifically to answer this question and is not verified to the same standard as Official Statistics.

Department of Health

In Vitro Fertilisation

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent article in the journal Science "Motherless babies!"How to create a tabloid science headline in five easy steps, what consideration the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has given to the role of the Science Media Centre in generating claims about assisted reproductive technologies; and what role members of the HFEA’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Group play in trying to prevent sensationalist or alarmist headlines.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Occasionally, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) engages with the Science Media Centre to deliver press briefings. When it does so, the HFEA works with the Centre to ensure that the relevant science is carefully explained. The terms of reference of the Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee are set out in Annex A of the HFEA’s Standing Orders, a copy is attached. The purpose of the Committee is to advise the HFEA on scientific and clinical developments (including research) in assisted conception, embryo research and related areas. The Committee’s functions are to: - make recommendations to the Authority on the safety and efficacy of scientific and clinical developments (including research) in assisted conception, embryo research and related areas;- make recommendations to the Authority on patient information relating to those scientific and clinical developments;- advise the Authority on significant implications for licensing and regulation arising out of such developments, and;- where required, work with the Authority members to consider the social, ethical and legal implications arising out of such developments. Many members of the Committee are experts in their own right and may comment on published research in their own capacity.



HFEA Standing orders
(PDF Document, 944.58 KB)

Food: Labelling

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of calls for food manufacturers to be forced to put traffic-light nutrition labels on the front of packs.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The United Kingdom’s voluntary scheme for colour coded front of pack nutrition labelling has been developed in compliance with Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, but the regulation does not permit national mandatory front of pack labelling.

Ministry of Defence

Apache AH-64 Helicopter

Lord Moonie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their decision to buy Apache AH-64E helicopters through a foreign military sale with the United States government, how many UK companies are part of the AH-64E global supply chain; and by value, what proportion of the total cost of an AH-64E their goods and services represent.

Earl Howe: The UK's Apache AH-64E helicopters are being bought from the US Government through their Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme. As such, the UK Government does not have a direct contractual relationship with the Apache AH-64E supply chain. It is understood, however, that at least five UK companies have been successful in securing sub-contracts from Boeing, the helicopter manufacturer and lead system integrator, on the Apache programme. Together, these contracts represent about 5 per cent by value of Boeing's contribution to the global Apache programme.